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EXP GDC Beast/Ares-V7/V6 discussion


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@Sirios did you get my PM?

Yep, I got it. The question is, there is nothing new on those pictures from Taobao. No any new information that you can get in original eGPU topic or that was already discussed here. Two eGPU are identical in performance, list of supported notebooks and so on.

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Great news!

A small, £7 PSU from eBay can be easily used with the DC port on the EXP.

I have tested with 750Ti, running valley benchmark for 2 hours, and no instability, and the power pack gets no hotter than the one that I have for the Elitebook its self.

post-10650-14494997587388_thumb.jpg

Power supply is Pin Positive.

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Yes, pin positive should be standard, but if someone has a power supply they aren't sure about, they should always check, a £5 multimeter from eBay is much less expensive than £100+ GPU.

The only downside, as was mentioned, is that the automatic switching on/off doesn't work. Can't seem to find an inline one for sale here, but making one should be no problem because jacks and sockets for that size plug are very common.

In addition ,I've done some multimeter testing on the USB port on the EXP, and would suggest that it should be steered well clear of on the power side. Whatever voltage regulator that is on the EXP for the 5v line is really poor, if it's something like a wireless mouse then you might get away with it, but an external HDD is a complete no go.

If you did want to use the USB port to make some sort of all-in-one dock, find a powered USB hub, cut the power lines from the B port, and power the hub from a higher quality 12v to 5v regulator from whatever PSU you are using (unless ATX PSU when you can just use it's own 5v lines).

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Hi all,

Have lurked for a while, but ended up creating an account specifically for this thread :)

This is the first solution that I've seen that appears to be both cheap and clean.

I've got a MacBook Air and am ready to pull the trigger, but wanted to clarify a couple things:

1. Do we know if this setup will work for Mac (running windows 7)?

2. It seems like purchasing can be tricky. Do I just need to order: EXP GDC an external PCI-e video card laptop external Expresscard Kit Item and do I need to give any specific instructions on my order?

3. Is there anything else that I need to purchase to make the setup work?

Sorry in advance for the noob questions, thanks for all of the research though. Much appreciated!

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Hi all,

Have lurked for a while, but ended up creating an account specifically for this thread :)

This is the first solution that I've seen that appears to be both cheap and clean.

I've got a MacBook Air and am ready to pull the trigger, but wanted to clarify a couple things:

1. Do we know if this setup will work for Mac (running windows 7)?

2. It seems like purchasing can be tricky. Do I just need to order: EXP GDC an external PCI-e video card laptop external Expresscard Kit Item and do I need to give any specific instructions on my order?

3. Is there anything else that I need to purchase to make the setup work?

Sorry in advance for the noob questions, thanks for all of the research though. Much appreciated!

The EXP GDC is a expresscard-to-pcie adapter. Your Macbook Air has no expresscard slot, instead it has a Thunderbolt port. So to attach the EXP GDC you'd need a US$170 Sonnet Echo Expresscard Pro, giving 5Gbps bandwidth.

So there you're looking at > US$220 for 5Gbps solution. Poor value when you consider you can get a 10Gbps native Thunderbolt Firmtek Thundertek enclosure for US$199. See http://forum.techinferno.com/diy-e-gpu-projects/6621-us%24199-thunderbolt-egpu-setup-maybe.html#post90249 . That recently released US$199 product a making all previous 5Gbps Thunderbolt-to-expresscard solutions (PE4L 2.1b, EXP GDC V6, Vidock, etc) looking overly expensive AND underperforming.

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@rhx123 could you elaborate some more on the voltage testings you've done on USB curcuit? This is really interesting stuff!

I used a USB extender with stripped power wires so I could attach the test leads.

When something that drew a lot of current was attached, then the voltage would drop as low as 1v in some cases, fluctuating wildly.

When using a single wireless mouse adapter, the voltage usually managed to keep above 4.8V, which is still way more variance than the USB spec allows, but it's enough that the adapter can work.

I never saw the voltage go above 5v, but something getting undervolted at the wrong moment could probably damage it especially if it's a flash memory device, and I wouldn't put it past the regulator to go above 5v if it's this bad.

It's weird because the fact they didn't use the USB lines from the ExpressCard to power it means that they must have been thinking they want additional power to the port so people can use a hub etc, but infact it seems to provide nowhere near the power that even the ports on the notebook can provide (my phone can draw upwards of 0.9 amps from a usb port, and when using the same setup on my 2570p the voltage stays pretty much bang on 5v all the time.

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@rhx123

Wow, this is very weird if it uses the 12V input power line (if I understood correctly?), which easily should be be down regulated to 5V and provide more than enought current for the port. I might mod my adapter to use an non-shitty regulator!

Anyway, I'll address till issue to Cloud right away!

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Hi !!

I'm french (and I live in France but I'll come in Japan soon).

I bought a EXP GDC v6 on Aliexpress !! Without PSU because I can buy it for about 20€. (DELL 220w)

It is to connect my GTX 560 Ti Twin-frozr II on my Toshiba L350 -21u (I have change the CPU T9900 and a SSD)

I don't have received the "PCIe 6-pin special power cable" but only the "ATX special power cable"...

I have sent an email to seller, I'm waiting for...

This evening, I will try with a ATX PSU temporarily :)

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Hi !!

I'm french (and I live in France but I'll come in Japan soon).

I bought a EXP GDC v6 on Aliexpress !! Without PSU because I can buy it for about 20€. (DELL 220w)

It is to connect my GTX 560 Ti Twin-frozr II on my Toshiba L350 -21u (I have change the CPU T9900 and a SSD)

I don't have received the "PCIe 6-pin special power cable" but only the "ATX special power cable"...

I have sent an email to seller, I'm waiting for...

This evening, I will try with a ATX PSU temporarily :)

I had this problem too, and I emailed the seller, he said "put an order through and say what you want, and i will adjust price" and I did, and it's still in awaiting payment and he hasn't adjusted the price. I think getting those cables is nigh on impossible.

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If anyone is interested. I'm selling my EXP GDC v6.0. So, if you don't want to import from China or save on shipping, the item is located in Toronto.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Price is the cost that I purchased for USD$48 + tax/shipping, which was purchased at aliexpress.

Item condition: Not used.

Send private message if interested. I will update this post when gone. (still available at this point)

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Does that 99$ price include EMS shipping? Because when I looked some days ago the shipping cost with ordinary China post was about 25$, which would make 75$ total price.

Thanks for the guide! :)

Hmm, let me check that!

Update: No actually, I get $34.02 in shipping with China Air post to Sweden. The total for me is $98.85.

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Hmm, let me check that!

Update: No actually, I get $34.02 in shipping with China Air post to Sweden. The total for me is $98.85.

Strange. I just tried and it states 26$ to Italy. I input 1.5kg as weight.

Also, your link points to taobao, not yoybuy. At least in my mobile browser.

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Oh ok. I heard somewhere here that the total weight were 1.5kg. Then it's correct, 99$.

I estimate the power brick alone to weigh ~1.5KG and the adapter+cables ~0.4Kg, give or take.

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I guess it's not ideal to buy it separate. I'll give two links for similar cables that are cheaper. Have a look later in post #1.

UPDATE: I added two different "third party" 6-pin PCI-e cables to order for ~$7.5.

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